Buyers Guide: Choosing a PC system

As you see below there are many reviews talking about how much RAM is needed to run the simplest of games and other things. But to be different I thought I would tell you how not to be sold a crappy old computer. First off you need to find out where to buy from, if you know your stuff then go to a computer fair, you can buy top notch second hand computers, just make sure you get contact details if possible in case you find that there is massive amounts of problems with it. Second option is to go to shops who specialise in this area, E.g. PC World, I don't really recommend PC World as I find that the sales persons just want a quick sale, not the best for the ...  Read the complete review

In this day and age computers are commonplace in many households and I suspect many people find the purchase of a new computer a little bemusing. The difference in the price of one PC to the next can be vast, so what differentiates a good PC from a bad one. To start with there is no one single answer to this question as it is entirely a matter of opinion based on users requirements. I’m going to hang my anorak up and try and offer my opinion without too much tech talk, although inevitably suggesting a PC specification will require some technical terms. The question you need to ask yourself is, what do I actually want to use the computer for? If you ...  Read the complete review

When I was at university during the last 4 years doing a degree in Information Systems, it involved extensive use of computers. I decided that if I was to do well in my course it would be useful to have my own PC at home. I had saved up about £1000 and I expected to use this to buy the PC and hopefully get a bit of change back. Before I came to university I knew little about computers and I think this was probably the only reason why my choice looking back now, turned out to be a wrong one. I am just dreading mentioning the company I bought my PC off and that was PC World! This just happend to be the closest computer store to me and it was quite big, so ...  Read the complete review

Well, OK I know this category is technically meant for desktops, but after recent strife in purchasing a laptop computer I felt that I have a few useful points to share - so hopefully no-one will mind too much about this. I should point out to start with that I am not technically over-burdened and I am going to attempt to write a plain English guide for like-minded types. I do hope that this is helpful to anyone considering buying a laptop, as goodness knows I could have used something similar three months ago! - Why buy a laptop? If you are considering buying a new computer, why choose a laptop over a desktop? Well, the simple answer to that is if ...  Read the complete review

Now this is a particularly difficult question that people have been raving on about for years. The problem is that once someone has forked out the money for a computer they don't want to think they have an inferior machine. And at around £600-£1400 per attempt at getting it right who can blame them. The simple way of sorting out this problem is to ask yourself what you need the computer for. Macs have always been targeted at design and CAD users and they are generally seen as the industry standard. They are particularly good for sound manipulation since the fact that even the very first macs had CD quality sound output. We all know PCs are ...  Read the complete review